Sainsbury Lab Archives - Page 2 of 4

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: January 23rd.

Categories: Bristol University, Global, John Innes Centre, Sainsbury Lab, Uncategorized, University of Bristol, University of Leeds, Warwick University

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: January 23, 2018

This weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup begins with two papers from Royal Hollaway University of London that investigate the factors that control leaf development in the dark and the control of PIN1 phosphorylation. Third is a paper from Bristol that demonstrates the translation of research from Arabidopsis into coriander with regard the control of the response to UV light. Next is research from the John Innes Centre that characterises the role of DNA methylation during meiosis in the male lineage.

Christine Foyer (Leeds) leads the next paper that defines the relationship between cold treatment and strigolactone signalling. The penultimate paper is led by Richard Napier from the University of Warwick and determines the parameters that define the substrates of the AUX1 protein whilst the final paper includes Cyril Zipfel (TSL) as a co-author and uses systems biology approaches to characterise the interactions between leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases (LRR-RKs).

Mohammed B, Farahi Bilooei S, Doczi R, Grove E, Railo S, Palme K, Ditengou FA, Bögre L, Lopez-Juez E (2017) Converging energy and hormonal signalling control meristem activity, leaf initiation and growth Plant Phys doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01730

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2017/12/28/pp.17.01730.long

Open Access

Enrique Lopez-Juez (RHUL) leads this collaboration with German and Hungarian colleagues that investigates the fundamental question; ‘Why don’t leaves grow in the dark’. They show that this response is influenced by both auxin transport and the plants energy sensing mechanisms. Interestingly when energy is provided via external sucrose, leaves develop differently in the dark than they do in the light indicating that multiple signaling pathways differentially influence this phenotype.

Enrique discusses this paper on the GARNet YouTube page.

Dory M, Hatzimasoura E, Kállai BM, Nagy SK, Jäger K, Darula Z, Nádai TV, Mészáros T, López-Juez E, Barnabás B, Palme K,,, Bögre L, Ditengou FA,,, Dóczi R (2017) Coevolving MAPK and PID phosphosites indicate an ancient environmental control of PIN auxin transporters in land plants. FEBS Lett. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.12929

Laszlo Bogre and Enrique Lopez-Juez (RHUL) are co-authors on this Hungarian-led study that has discovered 3 conserved putative MAPK sites within the auxin transport protein PIN1. Phosphorylation of two of these sites causes partial loss of PIN1 membrane localization and therefore opposes the effect of the PINOID kinase, whose activity promotes PIN1 membrane localisation.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18073-8

Fraser DP, Sharma A, Fletcher T, Budge S, Moncrieff C, Dodd AN, Franklin KA (2017) UV-B antagonises shade avoidance and increases levels of the flavonoid quercetin in coriander (Coriandrum sativum). Sci Rep. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18073-8 Open Access

Keara Franklin and Anthony Dodd (University of Bristol) lead this collaboration between academic researchers and those in the company Vitacress. They translate research from Arabidopsis into Coriander that looks at the effect of UV-B on stem elongation and the interaction with flavonoid signaling. This work shows that alterations to the UV-B regime during growth of potted herbs might reduce deleterious effects caused by neighbour proximity.

Walker J, Gao H, Zhang J, Aldridge B, Vickers M, Higgins JD, Feng X (2017) Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates meiosis in Arabidopsis. Nat Genet. doi: 10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5

Xiaoqi Feng (JIC) is the corresponding author on this collaboration with James Higgins from Leicester and they investigate the role of DNA methylation in the control of male meiosis. They demonstrate that RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) in the male lineage regulates gene expression in meiocytes and results in the mis-splicing of the MPS1/PRD2 transcipt, which causes aberrant alterations in spindle formation.

Cooper JW, Hu Y, Beyyoudh L, Yildiz Dasgan H, Kunert K, Beveridge CA, Foyer CH (2018) Strigolactones positively regulate chilling tolerance in pea and in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell Environ. doi: 10.1111/pce.13147

Christine Foyer (Leeds) is the corresponding author on this collaboration with Australian, Turkish and South African colleagues that looks into the role strigolactones play during chilling tolerance in both Arabidopsis and pea plants. Plants that have been chilled during the night have reduced biomass, which was not observed in either pea or Arabidopsis strigolactone mutants. This demonstrates a clear role for this hormone in this response and provides a potential target for the manipulation of plant growth under environmental conditions.

Hoyerova K, Hosek P, Quareshy M, Li J, Klima P, Kubes M,, Yemm AA, Neve P, Tripathi A, Bennett MJ, Napier RM (2017) Auxin molecular field maps define AUX1 selectivity: many auxin herbicides are not substrates. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.14950

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.14950/abstract

Together with Czech co-authors Richard Napier (Warwick University) leads this investigation into the mode of action of the AUX1 auxin influx carrier and its substrate preferences. This work made use of a novel auxin accumulation assay and associated mathematical modeling to describe the parameters that make difference auxins to be good candidates for the AUX1 transport. Interesting they find that many commonly used auxinicide herbicides are poor substrates for AUX1 and the relevance of this finding for herbicide management strategies.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25184

Smakowska-Luzan E et al (2018) An extracellular network of Arabidopsis leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases. Nature doi: 10.1038/nature25184

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a co-author on this US-European study that performs a systems-biology analysis on the possible interactions between extracellular domains of the leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases (LRR-RKs) gene family in Arabidopsis. Analysis of 40K potential interactions allows the generation of a LRR-based cell surface interaction network (CSI-LRR). This was used to discover previously uncharacterized interactions between LRR-RKs and to demonstrate that these interactions allow the translocation of extracellular signals in balanced and tightly regulated patterns.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: January 10th 2018

by Geraint

Categories: Bristol University, Durham University, Global, John Innes Centre, Nottingham University, Rothamsted Research, Sainsbury Lab, SLCU, Uncategorized, University of Bristol, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of York

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: January 10, 2018

This Arabidopsis Research Roundup covers the final papers of 2017 and the first of this new year. The initial paper is led by researchers in Bristol and characterises how the multifaceted BIG protein influences stomatal dynamics in response to altered CO2. Second is a manuscript from SLCU that for the first time in plants demonstrates nuclear sequestration of cell cycle regulated mRNAs.

Next is a paper from Rothamsted that describes a role for the hormone GA during floral development. David Salt (Nottingham) is then a co-author on a manuscript that has determined a role for the CTL protein in ion homeostasis.

Seth Davies from York is the lead author on the next study that investigates a link between metabolism and the circadian clock. The sixth paper looks at genes involved in the control of autophagy and features Patrick Gallois (Manchester) as a co-author.

There are three papers from researchers working on Norwich Research Park with Cyril Zipfel (TSL) involved in a study that looks at vacuolar trafficking of BR signaling components. Janneke Balk leads a study that characterises enzymes involved in biosynthesis of metal co-factors whilst the final NRP-based paper from Nick Pullen and Steven Penfield (John Innes Centre) describes the Leaf-GP open software for automated plant phenotyping.

The penultimate paper uses a set of PlantProbes (developed by Paul Knox at Leeds) to study pollen development whilst the final paper from Keith Lindsey (Durham) describes the application of a Bayesian statistical methodology to model the parameters that control a hormone signaling network.

He J, Zhang RX, Peng K, Tagliavia C, Li S, Xue S, Liu A, Hu H,, Zhang J, Hubbard KE,, Held K, McAinsh MR, Gray JE, Kudla J, Schroeder JI, Liang YK, Hetherington AM (2018) The BIG protein distinguishes the process of CO2 -induced stomatal closure from the inhibition of stomatal opening by CO2. New Phytol. doi: 10.1111/nph.14957 Open Access

Alistair Hetherington (University of Bristol) leads this UK-USA-China collaboration that has characterised a role for the mysterious BIG protein during stomatal closure in response to altered CO2 concentration. Interestingly BIG mutants do not show a defect in stomatal opening in response to altered CO2, allowing the dissection of this complex response through the activity of this protein. It remains to be determined exactly how the BIG protein influences this process.

Yang W, Wightman R, Meyerowitz EM (2017) Cell Cycle Control by Nuclear Sequestration of CDC20 and CDH1 mRNA in Plant Stem Cells. Mol Cell. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2017.11.008

Elliott Meyerowitz (SLCU) is the corresponding author of this research that provides the first characterisation in plants of nuclear sequestration of mRNAs from developmental important genes. The authors show that Arabidopsis anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) coactivator genes CDC20 and CCS52B are confined to the nucleus in prophase, preventing translation of the cognate proteins until metaphase, which appears to protect cyclins from degradation at an inappropriate phase of the cell cycle

Plackett ARG, Powers SJ, Phillips AL, Wilson ZA, Hedden P, Thomas SG4 (2017) The early inflorescence of Arabidopsis thaliana demonstrates positional effects in floral organ growth and meristem patterning. Plant Reprod. doi: 10.1007/s00497-017-0320-3

This study is led from Rothamsted Research and includes Zoe Wilson from the University of Nottingham. They perform a systematic analysis of early floral organ initiation across the Arabidopsis inflorescence, discovering that both GA-dependent and independent stages are important for this process, albeit via the activity of presently unknown factors.

Gao YQ, Chen JG, Chen ZR An D, Lv QY, Han ML, Wang YL, Salt DE, Chao DY (2017) A new vesicle trafficking regulator CTL1 plays a crucial role in ion homeostasis. PLoS Biol. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2002978

Open Access

David Salt (University of Nottingham) is a co-author on this Chinese-led investigation into the role of the vesicle trafficking regulator choline transporter (CTL) during the control of ionome homeostasis. Using ctl1 mutants they show that this function is required for the action of certain ion transporters as well as during plasmodesmata (PD) development. This study provides novel insights into the role of vesicular transport in the control of ion homeostasis and how the location of these ions might alter vesicle activity.

Sánchez-Villarreal A, Davis AM, Davis SJ (2017) AKIN10 Activity as a Cellular Link Between Metabolism and Circadian-Clock Entrainment in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plant Signal Behav. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2017.1411448

Seth Davies (University of York) is the corresponding author on this study demonstrating that overexpression of the AKIN10 subunit of the SnRK1 complex results in increased period length of the circadian clock. The authors postulate about the possible links between metabolic rate and function of the clock, allowing them to present a model of action that features each of the central regulatory elements.

Havé M, Balliau T, Cottyn-Boitte B, Dérond E, Cueff G, Soulay F, Lornac A, Reichman P, Dissmeyer N, Avice JC, Gallois P, Rajjou L, Zivy M, Masclaux-Daubresse C (2017) Increase of proteasome and papain-like cysteine protease activities in autophagy mutants: backup compensatory effect or pro cell-death effect? J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erx482

Open Access
This study is led by French researchers and includes Patrick Gallois (University of Manchester) as a co-author. The work focuses on the role of the ATG genes during autophagy, the key process that controls nutrient recycling during senescence. In atg5 mutants they show that different sets of proteases are misregulated, suggestive of a complex relationship between the enzymes involved in nutrient remobilization.

Liu Q, Vain T, Viotti C, Doyle SM, Tarkowská D, Novák O, Zipfel C, Sitbon F, Robert S, Hofius D (2017) Vacuole Integrity Maintained by DUF300 Proteins Is Required for Brassinosteroid Signaling Regulation. Mol Plant. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2017.12.015

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a member of this Pan-European consortium that investigates the role of the vacuolar proteins, LAZARUS1 (LAZ1) and LAZ1 HOMOLOG1 (LAZ1H1) on the cellular cycling of BR-signaling components. Plants with mutations in laz1 and laz1h1 show increased BAK1 accumulation at the tonoplast as well as enhanced BRI1 trafficking and degradation. These DUF300 proteins appear to play a specific role in BR signalling as other vacuolar-associated proteins are not involved in this process.

Kruse I, Maclean A, Hill L, Balk J (2017) Genetic dissection of cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate biosynthesis in plant mitochondria. Biochem J. doi: 10.1042/BCJ20170559 Open Access

Janneke Balk (John Innes Centre) leads this study that has identified novel alleles in mitochondrial enzymes that are involved in the biosynthesis of metal cofactors. Analysis of these enzyme mutant reveals that they show deficiencies in the synthesis of cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cPMP), revealing fresh insights into the metabolic processes involving this key intermediate.

Zhou J, Applegate C, Alonso AD, Reynolds D, Orford S, Mackiewicz M, Griffiths S, Penfield S, Pullen N (2017) Leaf-GP: an open and automated software application for measuring growth phenotypes for arabidopsis and wheat. Plant Methods. doi: 10.1186/s13007-017-0266-3

Open Access

Nick Pullen and Steve Penfield (John Innes Centre) introduce this new software tool for the automated measurement of plant phenotypes. This Leaf-GP software is open access and has the sophistication to discriminate between different aspects of both Arabidopsis and greenhouse growth wheat.

This paper is back of a special issue of Plant Methods that is based on the use of Computer Vision in Plant Phenotyping.

Ndinyanka Fabrice T, Vogler H, Draeger C, Munglani G, Gupta S, Herger AG, Knox JP, Grossniklaus U, Ringli C (2017) LRX Proteins play a crucial role in pollen grain and pollen tube cell wall development. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01374

Open Access

This Swiss-led study looks into the role of LRX proteins during cell wall formation and how they affect pollen germination and pollen tube formation. The authors took advantage of the molecular tools produced by Paul Knox (University of Leeds) as part of his Plant Probes project.

Vernon I, Liu J, Goldstein M, Rowe J, Topping J, Lindsey K (2017) Bayesian uncertainty analysis for complex systems biology models: emulation, global parameter searches and evaluation of gene functions. BMC Syst Biol. doi: 10.1186/s12918-017-0484-3 Open Access

Keith Lindsey (University of Durham) leads this paper that applies a Bayesian statistical methodology to analyse a model of hormonal crosstalk in the Arabidopsis root. They show that this technique can provide new insight into the behavior of models and enables the identification of new interesting rate parameters.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: September 6th

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, Cardiff University, Glasgow University, Global, John Innes Centre, Open Access, Oxford Brookes University, Rothamsted Research, Sainsbury Lab, Uncategorized, University of York

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: September 5, 2017

This largest ever Arabidopsis Research Roundup (ARR) includes 6 papers from Norwich Research Park (NRP), including three featuring Cyril Zipfel (TSL) as a co-author on papers that investigate different aspects of plant immune signaling. Elsewhere on the NRP site Veronica Grieneisen (JIC) is a co-author on a study that defines the root auxin maximum whilst Dale Sanders and Saskia Hogenhout lead a paper that defines a method for the analysis of calcium signaling. Finally Robert Sablowski’s group at the JIC investigates the role of the DELLA proteins during meristem development.

Elsewhere investigators from Kew Gardens and Bangor University have used nanopore sequencing for the facile characterisation of field populations of Arabidopsis. Similarly Seth Davies (University of York) is part of a collaboration that looks how alterations in the circadian clock might affect plant fitness.

Verena Kriechbaumer (Oxford Brookes) leads a phylogenetic study into the conservation of auxin biosynthesis genes whilst Hilary Rodgers (Cardiff University) is a co-author on a Chinese-led study that looks into role of cadmium on the Arabidopsis cell cycle.

This ARR is full of examples of UK researchers involved in global collaborations. This includes Cambridge researchers involved in a proteomic analysis of microsomes, Justin Goodrich from the University of Edinburgh as part of a US-led study that defines the regulation of the PRC2 complex and Katherine Denby (University of York) as a member of a consortium that has performed a network analysis of jasmonic acid signaling.

Finally are two studies in which the research takes place within a single institution. Malcolm Hawksford (Rothamsted Research) looks at the effect of wheat transcription factors in the response to the heavy metal zinc whilst Emily Larson and Mike Blatt (University of Glasgow) investigate the role of clathrin on plant vesicular transport.

D’Ambrosio JM, Couto D, Fabro G, Scuffi D, Lamattina L, Munnik T, Andersson MX, Alvarez ME, Zipfel C, Laxalt AM (2017) PLC2 Regulates MAMP-Triggered Immunity by Modulating ROS Production in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 10.1104/pp.17.00173

This Argentinian-led study includes Cyril Zipfel (TSL) as a co-author on this work that uses miRNA-mediated gene silencing to assess the role of the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) in plant immune signaling.

Imkampe J, Halter T, Huang S, Schulze S, Mazzotta S, Schmidt N, Manstretta R, Postel S, Wierzba M, Yang Y, vanDongen WM, Stahl M, Zipfel C, Goshe MB, Clouse S, de Vries SC, Tax F, Wang X, Kemmerling B (2017) The Arabidopsis Leucine-rich Repeat Receptor Kinase BIR3 Negatively Regulates BAK1 Receptor Complex Formation and Stabilizes BAK1. Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.17.00376

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a co-author on this global collaboration that further defines the role of the BAK1 receptor in hormone and immune signaling through its interaction with two LRR-RK proteins (BIR2 and BIR3).

Singh V, Perraki A, Kim SY, Shrivastava S, Lee JH, Zhao Y, Schwessinger B, Oh MH, Marshall-Colon A, Zipfel C, Huber SC (2017) Tyrosine-610 in the Receptor Kinase BAK1 Does Not Play a Major Role in Brassinosteroid Signaling or Innate Immunity. Front Plant Sci. 10.3389/fpls.2017.01273

Cyril Zipfel (TSL) is a co-author on this US-led manuscript that again looks into the role of the BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 (BAK1) on plant immune signaling. Importantly they show that the phosphorylation of tyrosine-610 is actually not necessary for this proteins role in brassinosteroid or immune signaling

Di Mambro R, De Ruvo M,,, Pacifici E, Salvi E, Sozzani R, Benfey PN,, Busch W, Novak O, Ljung K, Di Paola L, Marée AFM, Costantino P, Grieneisen VA, Sabatini S (2017) Auxin minimum triggers the developmental switch from cell division to cell differentiation in the Arabidopsis root. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 10.1073/pnas.1705833114

Veronica Grieneisen (JIC) is a co-corresponding author on this work with Sabrina Sabatini from the University of Rome. They define the auxin minimum, a newly characterised determinat of root patterning that delineates the separation of root division and the differentiation zones. This is defined by the interaction between cytokinin and auxin signaling cascades.

Veronica discusses this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYdL6eddOcA

Vincent TR, Canham J, Toyota M, Avramova M, Mugford ST, Gilroy S, Miller AJ, Hogenhout S, Sanders D (2017) Real-time In Vivo Recording of Arabidopsis Calcium Signals During Insect Feeding Using a Fluorescent Biosensor. J Vis Exp. 10.3791/56142

Dale Sanders and GARNet committee member Saskia Hogenhout (JIC) lead this study that describes an imaging technique that allows for the real time assessment of calcium dynamics using a fluorescently tagged sensor.

Serrano-Mislata A, Bencivenga S, Bush M, Schiessl K, Boden S, Sablowski R (2017) DELLA genes restrict inflorescence meristem function independently of plant height. Nature Plants. 10.1038/s41477-017-0003-y

Robert Sablowski (JIC) leads this paper that investigates the role of DELLA proteins in the control of cell cycle regulators and how this impacts meristem size in both barley and Arabidopsis. Read more about it on the John Innes Centre website.

Parker J, Helmstetter AJ, Devey D, Wilkinson T, Papadopulos AST (2017) Field-based species identification of closely-related plants using real-time nanopore sequencing. Sci Rep. 10.1038/s41598-017-08461-5 Open Access

This investigation led by researchers at Kew Gardens and at the Bangor University use Real Time Nanopore Sequencing (RTnS) that allows for rapid species identification in the field and that combining RTnS and laboratory-based high-throughput sequencing leads to a significant improvement in genome assembly.

Rubin MJ, Brock MT, Davis AM, German ZM, Knapp M, Welch SM, Harmer SL, Maloof JN7, Davis SJ, Weinig C (2017) Circadian rhythms vary over the growing season and correlate with fitness components. Mol Ecol. 10.1111/mec.14287 Open Access

Seth Davies (University of York) is a co-author on this US-led work that conducts a study of field-growth Arabidopsis to evaluate the contribution of the circadian clock toward survival and fecundity. They show that variation in clock function correlates with growth performance in a natural environment.

Poulet A, Kriechbaumer V (2017) Bioinformatics Analysis of Phylogeny and Transcription of TAA/YUC Auxin Biosynthetic Genes. Int J Mol Sci. 10.3390/ijms18081791 Open Access

The paper from Oxford Brookes University provides a phylogenetic analysis of TAA/TAR (tryptophan aminotransferase related) and YUCCA proteins that are involved in auxin biosynthesis. In addition they provide tissue and cell-specific information about the function of these proteins and that their function is conserved in lower plant species.

Cui W, Wang H, Song J, Cao X, Rogers HJ, Francis D, Jia C, Sun L, Hou M, Yang Y, Tai P, Liu W (2017) Cell cycle arrest mediated by Cd-induced DNA damage in Arabidopsis root tips. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.07.074 Open Access

Hilary Rodgers (Cardiff University) is a co-author on this Chinese-led study that looks into the effect of cadmium treatment on the regulation of the cell cycle and DNA damage repair. They show that different cadmium concentrations effect different phases of the cell cycle.

Alqurashi M, Thomas L, Gehring C, Marondedze C (2017) A Microsomal Proteomics View of H₂O₂- and ABA-Dependent Responses. Proteomes. 10.3390/proteomes5030022 Open Access

This international collaboration includes members of the Cambridge Centre for Proteomics and conducts a quantitative analysis of the Arabidopsis microsomal proteome following treatment with hydrogen peroxide or ABA. Perhaps unsurprisingly a high number of proteins characterized as ‘responsing to stress’ were found upregulated following treatment with H2O2 or ABA.

Xiao J, Jin R, Yu X, Shen M, Wagner JD, Pai A, Song C, Zhuang M, Klasfeld S, He C, Santos AM, Helliwell C, Pruneda-Paz JL, Kay SA, Lin X, Cui S, Garcia MF, Clarenz O, Goodrich J, Zhang X, Austin RS,, Bonasio R, Wagner D (2017) Cis and trans determinants of epigenetic silencing by Polycomb repressive complex 2 in Arabidopsis. Nature Genet 10.1038/ng.3937

Justin Goodrich (University of Edinburgh) is a co-author on this US-led study that looks into the role of Polycomb response element (PREs) in directing the placement of the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) via their interaction with a newly identified transcription factors. Justin has recently discussed a paper on a similar topic on the G ARNet YouTube channel.

Hickman R, van Verk MC, Van Dijken AJH, Pereira Mendes M, Vroegop-Vos IA, Caarls L, Steenbergen M, Van Der Nagel I, Wesselink GJ, Jironkin A, Talbot A, Rhodes J, de Vries M, Schuurink RC, Denby K, Pieterse CMJ, Van Wees SCM (2017) Architecture and Dynamics of the Jasmonic Acid Gene Regulatory Network. The Plant Cell 10.1105/tpc.16.00958 Open Access

GARNet committee member Katherine Denby (University of York) is a member of this large consortium of researchers who have performed a network analysis on the dynamics of jasmonic acid signaling

Evens NP, Buchner P, Williams LE, Hawkesford MJ (2017) The role of ZIP transporters and group F bZIP transcription factors in the Zn-deficiency response of wheat (Triticum aestivum) Plant J. 10.1111/tpj.13655 Open Access

Malcolm Hawkesford (Rothamsted Research) leads this study that investigate a set of wheat bZIP transcription factors and ZIP transporters that are involved in the uptake and transport of zinc. As part of this work they use Arabidopsis to test the conserved function of these wheat proteins.

Larson ER, Van Zelm E, Roux C, Marion-Poll A, Blatt MR (2017) Clathrin Heavy Chain subunits coordinate endo- and exocytic traffic and affect stomatal movement. Plant Physiol. 10.1104/pp.17.00970 Open Access

Mike Blatt and Emily Larson (University of Glasgow) are the co-corresponding authors on this study that looks into the role of clathrin heavy chain on vesicular transport in Arabidopsis. They looked at clathrin mutants to show that the protein plays an unsurprisingly important role in both endo- and exocytosis.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: August 1st

by Geraint

Categories: Global, James Hutton Institute, John Innes Centre, Sainsbury Lab, University of Essex

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: August 1, 2017

This weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup has a tools-focus as it includes three papers that highlight new tools that are available to the plant science community. Silke Robatzek (TSL) leads research that has developed software for analysis of subcellular fluorescent markers whilst in a broadly similar area Mark Fricker (University of Oxford) is part of an international collaboration that characterises a tool that allows for analysis of intracellular ATP concentrations. Thirdly Phillip White (JHI) leads a consortium that has developed computer-assisted software to aid automated phenotyping. In the fourth paper Silke Robatzek again features as co-corresponding author with Richard Morris (JIC) in a study that mixes plant biology and computational analysis to model stomatal dynamics. Finally Christine Raines (University of Essex) leads research that has overexpressed a member of the photosynthetic apparatus that surprisingly results in plants with larger biomass and seed yield.

Faulkner C, Zhou J, Evrard A, Bourdais G, MacLean D, Häweker H, Eckes P, Robatzek S (2017) An automated quantitative image analysis tool for the identification of microtubule patterns in plants. Traffic. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tra.12505 Open Access

This research from The Sainsbury lab, Norwich and John Innes Centre includes Silke Robatzek as corresponding author as well as new faculty member Christine Faulkner as lead author. This paper documents the development of CellArchitect, which is an image analysis tool to track the movement of subcellular microtubule markers obtained using con-focal microscopy. They validated CellArchifect by treating with a variety of chemicals that alter microtubule dynamics. In addition they show that this software can be used to track actin or ER markers and as such should have broad utility for cell biology researchers particularly those that are undertaking often laborious chemical biology screens.

De Col V,, Fuchs P, Nietzel T, Elsässer M, Voon CP, Candeo A, Seeliger I, Fricker MD, Grefen C, Møller IM, Bassi A, Lim BL,, Zancani M, Meyer AJ,, Costa A, Wagner S, Schwarzländer M (2017) ATP sensing in living plant cells reveals tissue gradients and stress dynamics of energy physiology. Elife. http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26770 Open Access

Mark Fricker (University of Oxford) is part of this international collaboration that have used a novel technique for visualizing ATP levels using a fluorescent biosensor in vitro, within isolated mitochondria and within intact seedlings. They demonstrate differing ATP concentrations within tissues, highlighting root hair cells. Induced hypoxia shows that there is significant plasticity in the cellular ATP concentrations and that these can be successful monitored using the biosensor tool.

Dupuy LX, Wright G, Thompson JA, Taylor A, Dekeyser S, White CP, Thomas WTB, Nightingale M, Hammond JP, Graham NS, Thomas CL, Broadley MR, White PJ (2017) Accelerating root system phenotyping of seedlings through a computer-assisted processing pipeline. Plant Methods.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0207-1 Open Access

Phillip White (James Hutton Institute) and collaborators at the University of Nottingham have developed this computer-assisted pipeline designed to facilitate the phenotyping of plant roots. This can be scaled up for plants of different sizes and thus has broad utility. This software rapidly extracts root traits from image data, a process that can be a bottleneck in the screening process. This software complements parallel attempts that have developed automated platforms for sample preparation and handling.

Woolfenden HC, Bourdais G, Kopischke M, Miedes E, Molina A, Robatzek S, Morris RJ (2017) A computational approach for inferring the cell wall properties that govern guard cell dynamics. Plant J. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13640 Open Access

Richard Morris (John Innes Centre) and Silke Robatzek (The Sainsbury lab, Norwich) are the corresponding authors on this study in which they collaborate with Spanish colleagues. They investigate how different attributes of guard cell walls are responsible for the opening and closing of stomata. By considering the cell wall as a composite of a pectin rich matrix embedded within cellulose microfibrils they predict the movements that are responsible for stomatal dynamics. They validate their predictions using Arabidopsis mutants and they to show that stomatal opening/closing is brought about by a mix of hoop reinforcement and strain-stiffening resulting in anisotrophic growth.

Simkin AJ, McAusland L, Lawson T, Raines CA (2017) Over-expression of the RieskeFeS protein increases electron transport rates and biomass yield. Plant Physiol.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.17.00622 Open Access

GARNet committee member Christine Raines (University of Essex) leads this study in which they have generated plants that overexpress the Rieske FeS protein (PetC), which is a component of the cytochrome b6f (cyt b6f) complex. These plants show equivalent increases in both proteins within the cytochrome b6f complex and more surprisingly within members of PSI and PSII. The mechanisms that explain these changes are currently unknown but these plants offer an exciting tool in order to study multiple aspects of photosynthetic biology. Perhaps more importantly these plants show increased biomass and seed yield indicating that manipulation of these proteins in crop plants might be important for developing higher yielding varieties.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: May 17th

by Geraint

Categories: Cambridge University, Global, John Innes Centre, Sainsbury Lab, Uncategorized, University of Leeds

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: May 17, 2017

This weeks Arabidopsis research roundup begins with a paper led by CPIB at the University of Nottingham that discovers a somewhat surprisingly mechanism controling Arabidopsis root hydrotropism. Next are two papers from the University of Leeds that firstly investigate how the JAGGED LATERAL ORGANS gene influences the auxin response and secondly looks at the role of redox regulation in the control of the cell cycle and seed development. Finally are two papers that look at different aspects of the plant pathogen interactions. Jonathan Jones from the John Innes Centre is a co-author on a paper that dissects the multiple gene expression networks that control plant immunity whilst Charles Melnyk at the Sainsbury lab in Cambridge is involved with work that investigates the hormonal control mechanisms that influence the invasion of parasitic plants.

Dietrich D, Pang L, Kobayashi A, Fozard JA, Boudolf V, Bhosale R, Antoni R, Nguyen T, Hiratsuka S, Fujii N, Miyazawa Y, Bae TW, Wells DM,, Owen MR,, Band LR,, Dyson RJ, Jensen OE, King JR, Tracy SR, Sturrock CJ,, Mooney SJ, Roberts JA, Bhalerao RP, Dinneny JR, Rodriguez PL, Nagatani A, Hosokawa Y, Baskin TI, Pridmore TP, De Veylder L, Takahashi H, Bennett MJ (2017) Root hydrotropism is controlled via a cortex-specific growth mechanism. Nature Plants

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.57

Open Access via access link: http://rdcu.be/rSsk

Malcolm Bennett (University of Nottingham) leads a broad international collaboration that looks at the response of Arabidopsis roots to water. Surprisingly they show that this response occurs not in the root meristem but in the elongation zone and is controlled by a ABA signaling mechanism. They show that hydrotropism is dependent on cell elongation in the cortex but not in any other cell file. This is different to the gravitropic response and demonstrates that these tropisms are controlled by distinct tissue-specific mechanisms. To provide for information about this paper, lead author Daniela Dietrich joins Professor Bennett to discuss this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel and speculate on the function of different root cell layers in water uptake.

Rast-Somssich MI, Žádníková P, Schmid S, Kieffer M, Kepinski S, Simon R (2017) The Arabidopsis JAGGED LATERAL ORGANS (JLO) gene sensitizes plants to auxin. J Exp Bot.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx131 Open Access

This German-led study includes Stefan Kepinski (University of Leeds) as a co-author. They investigate the role of the JAGGED LATERAL ORGANS (JLO) transcription factor in the establishment of the stem cell niche in the root meristem. JLO interacts with auxin signaling pathway by influencing the degradation of the key regulator BODENLOS (BDL) via the TIR1-mediated degradation pathway. In jlo mutants BDL remains present in the meristem, which does not correctly develop. They discover a novel regulatory mechanism wherein the dosage of the TIR1 and AFB1 auxin receptors is reduced, which in turn prevents BDL degradation. This shows that the JLO transcription factor is a key upstream regulator of meristem formation by playing a significant role in the fine control of the auxin response.

De Simone A, Hubbard R, Vinegra de la Torre N, Velappan Y, Wilson M, Considine MJ, Soppe W, Foyer CH (2017) Redox changes during the cell cycle in the embryonic root meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana. Antioxid Redox Signal. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/ars.2016.6959

Open Access

Christine Foyer (University of Leeds) collaborates with Australian and German researchers to unpick the role that redox regulation plays in the control of the plant cell cycle. They use an in vivo redox reporter (roGFP2) to show that a cycle of reduction and oxidation occurs throughout the cell cycle. Their experimental system is Arabidopsis seed germination and they show that vitamin c defective mutants with low redox buffering capacity have altered germination rates that coincide with a changed dry seed transcriptome. Overall this paper demonstrates that the cell cycle and embryo size are linked to redox regulation.

Hillmer RA, Tsuda K, Rallapalli G, Asai S, Truman W, Papke MD, Sakakibara H, Jones JDG, Myers CL, Katagiri F (2017) The highly buffered Arabidopsis immune signaling network conceals the functions of its components. PLoS Genet. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006639

Open Access

Jonathan Jones (John Innes Centre) is a co-author on this Japanese-led research that studies the signaling networks invovled in plant immunity. They use a systems biology approach to dissect the network of interactions that occur within the transcriptome when plants are exposed to the immune stimulant flagellin-22. This analysis discovers that there are separated networks that represent pathways controlled by different higher-level signals, such as jasmonate or salicylic acid. This provides the entire network with a degree of buffering that allows a more effective response to pathogen attack. This type of network analysis is able to reveal facets of the defence response that would not be possible when using simple null mutant analysis so adds consideration detail to the already complicated story of plant-pathogen interactions

Spallek T, Melnyk CW, Wakatake T, Zhang J, Sakamoto Y, Kiba T, Yoshida S, Matsunaga S, Sakakibara H, Shirasu K (2017) Interspecies hormonal control of host root morphology by parasitic plants. PNAS

http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619078114

Charles Melnyk (Sainsbury Lab, Cambridge) is an author on this study led by Ken Shirasu at RIKEN and uses Arabidopsis to investigate the relationship between parasitic plants and their hosts, specifically at the level of interspecies transport via a structure called the haustorium. Haustoria are structures through which substances, such as RNA and proteins, reciprocally move between host and parasite. In this paper they look at the interaction between Arabidopsis roots and the hemiparasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum, demonstrating that movement of molecules between species occurs via haustoria once a vascular connection is made. Arabidopsis secondary root growth is induced under infection, a response that requires the effect of the hormone cytokinin. They look at the genetics of this interaction and show that cytokinin signaling genes are important in establishing root hypertrophy. Overall this study demonstrates the important of cytokinin during infection with parasitic plants and might be an important target to design strategies to combat these negative interactions in systems.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: March 31st.

by Geraint

Categories: Bristol University, Global, Lancaster University, New Phytologist, Oxford University, Sainsbury Lab, University of Oxford, University of York, Warwick University

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: March 31, 2017

This bumper edition of the Arabidopsis Research Roundup includes a wide range of research topics. Firstly Mike Roberts leads a study that adds another layer of complexity to our understanding of the factors that control seed dormancy. Secondly a paper from Ottoline Leyser’s lab at SLCU provides more details regarding the role of BRC1 during shoot branching. Next is a paper that continues David Salt’s collaborative work that aims to understand how the root endodermal barrier influences nutrient uptake. Fourthly is work from Bristol that looks at the interaction between viral infection, the structure of the leaf surface and the polarization of reflected light. The fifth paper features a wide collaboration from the Sainsbury lab in Norwich and aims to more fully understand the factors that lead to non-host infection by Phytophthora infestans. The penultimate paper looks at the interaction of aldolase enzymes with the plant actin cytoskeleton and the final paper brings us full circle back to seed dormancy where researchers from University of Warwick investigate the link between this complex growth response and the circadian clock.

Singh P, Dave A, Vaistij FE, Worrall D, Holroyd GH, Wells JG, Kaminski F, Graham IA, Roberts MR (2017) Jasmonic acid-dependent regulation of seed dormancy following maternal herbivory in Arabidopsis. New Phytol http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14525

Taken from: http://www.snakesandspiders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/red-spider-mite-control.jpg

Open Access

Mike Roberts (University of Lancaster) kindly provides an audio description of this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel, explaining that, in collaboration with Ian Graham at the University of York, they have identified a new control mechanism that links jasmonic acid, herbivory and seed dormancy. ABA and GA are known to be important hormones in the control of seed dormancy but this study adds complexity to this story by showing that following herbivory (or leaf wounding), the level of JA increases within Arabidopsis seeds. Perhaps counter-intuitively, in the following generation this leads to a reduction in dormancy, causing seed to germinate sooner than those from non-predated parents. The authors show that this is due to an increase in JA within seeds that importantly also alters sensitivity to ABA. Unlike transgenerational defence priming that acts through a epigenetic mechanism and persists for multiple generations , this study shows that the JA effect on seeds is a more direct response. Ultimately the mechanism in which parents prepare their offspring for subsequent generations is a complex trade off between multiple sources of predation and pathogenesis, environmental factors as well as through the effect of interacting hormone signaling pathways.

Seale M, Bennett T, Leyser O (2017) BRC1 expression regulates bud activation potential, but is not necessary or sufficient for bud growth inhibition in Arabidopsis. Development http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.145649 Open Access

This is the latest contribution from Ottoline Leyser’s lab that looks into the hormonal control of shoot branching. A key determinant of this process is the transcription factor, BRANCHED1 (BRC1) yet this study shows that under certain conditions, in this case with varied amount of strigolactone, the controlling effect of BRC1 expression levels can be mitigated. The authors provide evidence for a mechanism for branching control that involves the coordinated activity of BRC1 and an auxin-transport mechanism, both of which are influenced by a separate strigolactone-mediated signaling pathway.

Li B, Kamiya T, Kalmbach L, Yamagami M, Yamaguchi K, Shigenobu S, Sawa S, Danku JM, Salt DE, Geldner N, Fujiwara T (2017) Role of LOTR1 in Nutrient Transport through Organization of Spatial Distribution of Root Endodermal Barriers. Current Biology

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.030

Former GARNet chairman David Salt is a co-author on this paper that is lead by Japanese and Swiss colleagues and continues his work on the development of the casparian strip. These rings of lignin polymers are deposited within root endodermal cells and play a key role in the movement of water and nutrients into the vascular tissue. Suberin lamellae have a similar function and surround endodermal cells, likely acting as a barrier to apoplastic movement. This paper documents the identification of the Tolkienesquely-named LOTR1, which is essential for casparian strip formation. Lotr1 mutants show disrupted casparian strips, ectopic suberization and reduced calcium accumulation in the shoot. Further analysis demonstrates that it is this suberized layer substitutes for the CS in regions of lateral root emergence. Utliamtely they show that the relationship between suberization of the endodermal layer is a key determinant of calcium movement into the root and then around the rest of the plant.

Maxwell DJ, Partridge JC, Roberts NW, Boonham N, Foster GD (2017) The effects of surface structure mutations in Arabidopsis thaliana on the polarization of reflections from virus-infected leaves. PLoS One

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174014.g003 Open Access

Gary Foster (University of Bristol) leads this study that continues his labs work on the effect that viral infection has on light polarization when reflected off leaves. This attribute is important to attract insect predators, which in turn increase the possibility of successful viral transmission. Light polarization is affected by structures on the leaf surface such as trichomes or the makeup of the waxy cuticle. Here the authors show that the cer5 wax synthesis mutant alters the polarization of light following infection with Turnip vein clearing virus (TVCV) but not following infection with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). The paper provides no mechanism for this difference but the authors do show that leaf viral titre is equivalent in these mutants and therefore speculate that these changes might influence transmission of each virus by a different insect carrier that in turn responses to different patterns of polarized light.

Prince DC, Rallapalli G, Xu D, Schoonbeek HJ, Çevik V,, Asai S,, Kemen E,, Cruz-Mireles N, Kemen A,, Belhaj K, Schornack S,, Kamoun S, Holub EB, Halkier BA, Jones JD (2017) Albugo-imposed changes to tryptophan-derived antimicrobial metabolite biosynthesis may contribute to suppression of non-host resistance to Phytophthora infestans in Arabidopsis thaliana. BMC Biol.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-017-0360-z Open Access

This paper is a wide collaboration that features many colleagues from the Sainsbury lab in Norwich. Wildtype Arabidopsis plants are suspectible to Phytophthora infestans only after earlier infection with Albugo laibachii yet the molecular explanation of this complex interaction between plant and microbes remained opaque. This study demonstrates that Albugo infection alters the levels of a set of tryptophan-derived antimicrobial compounds, which were then found to be relevant for infection with P.infestans. This shows that these antimicrobial compounds might be key for the general maintenance of non-host resistance and might provide important information to aid future strategies to improve food security by reducing biomass loss due to plant pathogens.

Garagounis C, Kostaki KI, Hawkins TJ, Cummins I, Fricker MD, Hussey PJ, Hetherington AM2, Sweetlove LJ (2017) Microcompartmentation of cytosolic aldolase by interaction with the actin cytoskeleton in Arabidopsis. J Exp Bot.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx015

This collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Bristol and Durham looks into the functional role that molecular microcompartments play in the workings of a cell. Animal models have shown that certain aldolase enzymes are able to function as actin-bundling proteins and so this study focuses on a major plant cytosolic aldolase, FBA8, which is predicted to have two actin binding sites. Although the authors could not detect co-localisation of FBA8-RFP with the actin cytoskeleton they provide in vitro evidence that FBA8 can functionally interact with F-actin. In addition in fba8 mutants there is altered arrangement of actin filaments in guard cells that concomitantly results in a reduced rate of stomatal closure. Therefore these findings leads the authors to propose that FBA8 is able to subtly interact with actin in vivo, evidenced by some FRET-FLIM experiments, and that this may modulate actin dependent cell responses.

Footitt S, Ölcer-Footitt H, Hambidge AJ, Finch-Savage WE (2017) A laboratory simulation of Arabidopsis seed dormancy cycling provides new insight into its regulation by clock genes and the dormancy-related genes DOG1, MFT, CIPK23 and PHYA. Plant Cell Environ http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pce.12940

William Savage-Finch (University of Warwick) is the corresponding author on this paper that investigates mechanisms that control seed dormancy, which has been built from the analysis of a variety of genetic and environmental factors. They test their predictions by testing a range of mutants in both known dormancy related genes and in the function of the circadian clock. This provides a link between the circadian cycle and the daily variation in the level of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis.

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: March 17th

by Geraint

Categories: Audio, CPIB, Global, QMUL, Sainsbury Lab, University of Leeds

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: March 17, 2017

This weeks UK Arabidopsis Research Roundup includes three papers featuring researchers from the University of Nottingham as well as manuscripts from Leeds, Lancaster, QMUL and The Sainsburys Lab in Norwich

Firstly Stefan Kepinski (Leeds) leads a study that investigates how Gravitropic Set Point Angle (GSA) is controlled in response to different growth factors. Secondly are two Methods papers featuring researchers from CPIB in Nottingham, the first of which is in collaboration with Lancaster University and introduces the Microphentron, which is an automated phenotyping platform that can be used for chemical biology screens. The second paper describes a non-destructive method for imaging floral tissues using CT scanning.

Ranjan Swarup is also a member of CPIB and in the next paper he has collaborated with French colleagues to investigate the role of SHR on root development in rice.

The fourth paper includes Cyril Zipfel as a co-author and investigates the role of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in the response to pathogen attack whereas this weeks final paper is from the lab of Alexander Ruban (QMUL) and discovers the phenotypic consequences of persistent damage to PSII by photoinhibition.

Suruchi Roychoudhry, Martin Kieffer, Marta Del Bianco, Che-Yang Liao, Dolf Weijers Stefan Kepinski (2017) The developmental and environmental regulation of gravitropic setpoint angle in Arabidopsis and bean Scientific Reports http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep42664

Open Access

Stefan Kepinski (University of Leeds) leads this study that involves a collaboration with Dolf Weijers from Wageningen University. They investigate the role of both auxin and environmental factors in determining gravitropic set point angle (GSA), which is a measure of the growth of lateral organs away from primary shoots and roots. They show that nitrogen and phosphorous deficiency causes opposing effects on lateral root GSA, each of which are auxin-dependent. This contrasts with previous findings from work using bean adventitious roots. They find that these differences are maintained when Arabidopsis and bean roots are treated with different auxin concentrations. Latterly they also look at the effect of different light conditions on shoot GSA and put these findings into the context of potentially altering crop growth.

Stefan takes some time to discuss this paper for the GARNet YouTube Channel.

Burrell T, Fozard S, Holroyd GH, French AP, Pound MP, Bigley CJ, James Taylor C, Forde BG (2017) The Microphenotron: a robotic miniaturized plant phenotyping platform with diverse applications in chemical biology. Plant Methods

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0158-6 Open Access

This methods paper is a collaboration between the Universities of Lancaster and Nottingham led by Brian Forde that describes the Microphenotron. This device has been developed to facilitate chemical biology screens on in vivo plant tissues. This allows for the automated screening of either dicot or monocot roots or aerial tissues that have been grown on media infused with whichever chemical is relevant for the intended expriments. In situ GUS screening is also possible allowing for researchers to integrate information about growth and gene expression. The use of ‘Phytostrips’ in a 96-well format allows for high-throughput screening that is aligned with AutoRoot automated image analysis software to provide a rapid and facile method for undertaking small scale phenotypic screens. The Microphenotron facility is housed at the Lancester University, who are extremely open to collaboration so please get in contact if you are interested in using the facility.

Tracy SR, Gómez JF, Sturrock CJ, Wilson ZA, Ferguson AC (2017) Non-destructive determination of floral staging in cereals using X-ray micro computed tomography (µCT) Plant Methods. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0162-x Open Access

Alison Ferguson is the corresponding author on this methods paper that includes GARNet committee member Zoe Wilson and Saoirse Tracy from Dublin. They have developed a technique using X-ray µCT scanning to image developing flowers in Arabidopsis and barley plants, taking advantage of the excellent Hounsfield facility at the University of Nottingham. They show that the technique can be hugely beneficial for plant phenotyping by providing a non-destructive method of analyzing live floral development and how this can response to changes in the growth environment. Members of the Hounsfield facility are happy to discuss any potential collaborative work and future access to these type of facilities will hopefully be improved through the UKs involvement in the pan-european EMPHASIS project.

Henry S, Dievart A, Fanchon D, Pauluzzi G, Meynard D, Swarup R, Wu S, Lee CM, Gallagher K, Périn C (2017) SHR overexpression induces the formation of supernumerary cell layers with cortex cell identity in rice. Dev Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.03.001

Ranjan Swarup (CPIB) is a co-author on this study that includes French and US researchers. Previously they had shown that expression of rice SHORTROOT (OsSHR) genes could compliment the Arabidopsis shr mutant. In this study they show that overexpression of OsSHR and AtSHR in rice roots causes growth of wider, shorter roots that have an increased number of cortical cell layers. This demonstrates that the mechanisms that control the differentiation of cortical cell layers is conserved throughout land plants, with SHR being a key determinant in this process.

de Azevedo Souza C, Li S, Lin AZ, Boutrot F, Grossmann G, Zipfel C, Somerville S (2017) Cellulose-derived oligomers act as damage-associated molecular patterns and trigger defense-like responses. Plant Physiol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.16.01680

Cyril Zipfel (The Sainsbury Lab) is a co-author on this study from the lab of Shauna Somerville in California that focuses on the concept of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). These can be defined as cell wall breakdown components and stimulate the same defence responses as more fully characterised pathogen- or microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Intuitively this makes sense as during infection many pathogens will cause cell wall breakdown. The authors show that cellulose-derived oligomers trigger a signalling response similar to that caused by oligogalacturonides or chito-oligomers but that lacks an increase in ROS or in callose deposition. These results confirm that cellulose-derived signals feed into the plants mechanism for cell wall scanning and acts synergistically with other signals that result from pathogen attack.

Tian Y, Ungerer P, Zhang H, Ruban AV (2017) Direct impact of the sustained decline in the photosystem II efficiency upon plant productivity at different developmental stages. J Plant Physiol. http://dx.doi.org/110.1016/j.jplph.2016.10.017

Image from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176161717300433

Alexander Ruban (QMUL) leads this Sino-UK collaboration that investigates how the photoinhibiton of photosystem II impacts overall plant growth. In this study they use lincomycin to block chloroplast protein synthesis, which prevents the plant from restoring PSII function after photoinhibitory damage. Treated plants accumulate less starch and showed reduced above-ground biomass. This leads to a decrease in seed yield. Perhaps unsurprisingly this research shows that restoring the full function of PSII after photoinhibition to key to maintaining normally functioning electron transport rate that leads into metabolic production and growth rate.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Arabidopsis Research Roundup: February 20th

by Geraint

Categories: Audio, Durham University, Global, John Innes Centre, Open Access, Sainsbury Lab, University of Manchester, University of York

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: February 19, 2017

This weeks Arabidopsis Research Roundup begins with two papers that look at endogenous and exogenous causes of cell proliferation. Firstly Mike Bevan (JIC) leads a team that looks into the role of controlled protein degradation in this process whilst secondly, Peter Etchells from Durham is a co-author on a study that investigates how nematode pathogens stimulate cell proliferation at the site of infection.

Thirdly is work featuring Cyril Zipfel and colleagues from TSL that looks at how autophosphorylation controls the activity of calcium dependent protein kinases. Fourthly is a broad collaboration led by Richard Mott (UCL) that uses genomic structural variation to identify novel loci. Next Simon Turner from the University of Manchester phylogenetically defines the RALK peptide lineages across plant species. Finally researchers at the University of York conduct a structural analysis of the Arabidopsis AtGSTF2 glutathione transferase.

Dong H, Dumenil J, Lu FH, Na L, Vanhaeren H, Naumann C, Klecker M, Prior R, Smith C, McKenzie N, Saalbach G, Chen L, Xia T, Gonzalez N, Seguela M, Inze D, Dissmeyer N, Li Y, Bevan MW (2017) Ubiquitylation activates a peptidase that promotes cleavage and destabilization of its activating E3 ligases and diverse growth regulatory proteins to limit cell proliferation in Arabidopsis.

Genes Dev. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gad.292235.116

Open Access

Mike Bevan (John Innes Centre) is the corresponding author of this study that also includes researchers from labs in Belgium, Germany and China. They investigate a fundamental determinant of organ shape, the pattern of cell proliferation that leads to final cell size. They show that two RING E3 ligases activate the DA1 peptidase that in turn affects the stabilization and activity of a range of other proteins including the transcription factors TEOSINTE BRANCED 1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF 15 (TCP15) and TCP22. Overall this results in continued cell proliferation and repression of endoreduplication, which ultimately serves to regulate the timing of the transition from cell proliferation to organ differentiation.

Mike discusses the science surrounding this paper on the GARNet YouTube channel.

Guo X,, Wang J, Gardner M, Fukuda H, Kondo Y, Etchells JP, Wang X, Mitchum MG. Identification of cyst nematode B-type CLE peptides and modulation of the vascular stem cell pathway for feeding cell formation. PLoS Pathog. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006142

Open Access

Peter Etchells (University of Durham) is a co-author on this US-led study that looks at the effect of nematode-delivered CLE-like peptides on cell growth and how that impacts parasitism. This study has identified a new class of peptides from nematodes that are similar to the plant B-type CLE-like peptide TDIF (tracheary element differentiation inhibitory factor). They show that the nematodes alter the activity of the TDIF-TDR (TDIF receptor)-WOX4 signaling module during infection, whose endogenous function acts during procambial meristem cell proliferation. A variety of mutants involved in this process show reduced infection and leading to the hypothesis that WOX4 is a potential target for nematode CLEs. When exogenous nematode CLE peptides are added to Arabidopsis roots they cause massive cell proliferation. This demonstrates that this response is clearly important for the establishment of nematode infection, usually in cambial cell files.

Bender KW, Blackburn RK, Monaghan J, Derbyshire P, Menke FL, Zipfel C, Goshe MB, Zielinski RE, Huber SC (2017) Autophosphorylation-based calcium (Ca2+) sensitivity priming and Ca2+/Calmodulin inhibition of Arabidopsis thaliana Ca2+-dependent protein kinase 28 (CPK28) J Biol Chem.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M116.763243

Cyril Zipfel (The Sainsbury Lab) features for a second consecutive week on the Arabidopsis research roundup, this time as a co-author in a study that investigates the role of autophosphorylation in the regulation of calcium (Ca2+) dependent protein kinases (CPKs). In addition they evaluated the role of Calmodulin (CaM) on the activity of CPKs, something that had been previously overlooked. Indeed they show that CPK28 is a CaM-binding protein and that autophosphorylation causes increased activity, especially in low Ca2+ concentrations. Therefore this research provides a mechanistic insight into how a cell might respond to low levels of Ca2+.

Imprialou M, Kahles A, Steffen JG, Osborne EJ, Gan X, Lempe J, Bhomra A, Belfield E, Visscher A, Greenhalgh R, Harberd NP, Goram R, Hein J, Robert-Seilaniantz A, Jones J, Stegle O, Kover P, Tsiantis M, Nordborg M, Rätsch G, Clark RM, Mott R Genomic Rearrangements in Arabidopsis Considered as Quantitative Traits. Genetics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.116.192823

Open Access

Richard Mott (UCL) is corresponding author on this paper includes authors from throughout the UK, Europe and the US. They provide a new analysis of Arabidopsis populations that relies on the genome structural variation. They treat these structural variants as quantitative traits and subsequently map genetically in the same way as in a gene expression study. When a structural variant locus is linked to a genotype at a distant locus then it is designated as a site of transposition. Remarkably they show 25% of the structural variants can be assigned to the transposition events. This method of assessing structural variant loci is amendable to sequencing at low-coverage and this study identified loci that might be involved in germination and resistant to pathogens. Overall they find that genes within structural variants are more likely to be silenced and that this novel analysis technique is particularly useful when mapping transposition events.

Campbell L, Turner SR1(2017) A Comprehensive Analysis of RALF Proteins in Green Plants Suggests There Are Two Distinct Functional Groups. Front Plant Sci. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00037

Open Access

This study from the lab of Simon Turner (University of Manchester) analyse Rapid Alkalinization Factor (RALFs) cysteine-rich peptides from across 51 plant species. They infer that these plant RALFs originate from four major clades in which the majority of the variation exists in the mature peptide sequence, indicative of clade-specific activities. Clade IV accounts for a third of the total peptides yet these lack a number of sequence features thought to be important for RALF function, which leads the authors to speculate that this clade should be thought of as containing RALF-related peptides instead of regular RALFs. Further experimental work is needed in order to define the true nature of the functional relationship between Clades I-III and Clade IV.

Ahmad L, Rylott EL, Bruce NC, Edwards R, Grogan G (2016) Structural evidence for Arabidopsis glutathione transferase AtGSTF2 functioning as a transporter of small organic ligands. FEBS Open Bio. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2211-5463.12168

Open Access

This paper links plant science and structural biology in a study that was undertaken at the University of York. Plant Glutathione transferases (GSTs) have multiple roles including in the detoxification of xenobiotics as well as in various non-catalytic roles. In this work the structure of the Arabidopsis AtGSTF2 is revealed in tandem with a variety of non-catalytic partners including indole-3-aldehyde, camalexin, the flavonoid quercetrin and its non-rhamnosylated analogue quercetin. These are thought to bind to AtGSTF2 by hydrophobic interactions at either one or two symmetrical binding sites. The authors speculate that this non-catalytic binding might have a possible role in ligand transport.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

«page 2 of 4»